Dodgers Punt Away Home Field, Lose Series To Giants

Dodgers 2 8 0 Giants    3 6 0 WP-Casilla-7-2 LP-Paco-3-4 SV-Romo-38 HR-Pagan-5

It seems so trivial to talk about a Baseball game, when a man just lost his life. But we must move on with a heavy heart. Of course thoughts and prayers go out to Mr. Jonathan Denver’s friends and family.

The Dodgers wrapped up their last road trip with their final road game of the year, in the rubber game of the three game series at At&t park against the Giants. The Dodgers could have had a chance at home field advantage if they were actually trying to win these games, but alas, they have not been. I know these last few games are meaningless but I would like to see the Dodgers win at least a couple of these games. It would be nice is all. The Dodgers blew an early two run lead tonight, punting the game 3-2, and dropping the series to the Giants.

The Giants scored two unanswered runs in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a costly walk and wild pitch, and with the game tied 2-2, the constantly irritating Angel Pagan’s solo home run in the bottom of the eighth hit the top of the wall and bounced over the fence on an 0-2 pitch off of Paco Rodriguez.

Volquez’s hat is still sideways isn’t it?

Tim Lincecum

As we enter the final weekend of the regular season, farewells seem to be a familiar topic around the league. Todd Helton is retiring, and we’ll see him play his final games when the Rockies visit Dodger Stadium this weekend. Mariano Rivera was saying his farewells at Yankee Stadium tonight as well.

The Giants said farewell the other night to Barry Zito, in what will be his final start with the Giants. Would the Giants be saying farewell to another long time starter? It’s possible that this could be Tim Lincecum’s final start with the Giants as he is due to be a free agent over the winter. The Giant fans were hoping to see flashes of the Lincecum of old. They kind of did, but opposing starter Edinson Volquez matched him. The Dodgers had given Volquez an early 2-0 lead.

Volquez pitched well, allowing just two runs across five frames, but he made too many mistakes. Three walks, and a wild pitch led to two unanswered runs in the bottom of the fifth frame. Volquez allowed four hits, and whiffed four, and was removed for a pinch-hitter in the top of the sixth.

No, don’t send him Wallach!

Sigh

Lincecum pitched well, but had his usual troubles in the first inning. Lincecum went seven, allowing two runs on eight hits, and struck out six. Both pitchers were not involved in the decision.

The Dodgers made too many mistakes in general. The offense was listless again, and could only muster up eight hits. The game was filled with the usual routine boring outs from the entire lineup, although Crawford is starting to heat up. The Dodgers scored one run in the first inning on a triple from Carl Crawford, and a sacrifice fly from Adrian Gonzalez. (Gonzo’s 99 RBI).

The Dodgers got another run in the fourth on consecutive doubles from Juan Uribe, and Mark Ellis. The Dodgers were plagued again by poor base running as another runner was thrown out at the plate. This time it was catcher Tim Federowicz, who was unable to score from second base on a Yasiel Puig single to short. Fedex was thrown out by Gregor Blanco on a distance from me to you. Tim Wallach the helicopter strikes again.

Volquez ran into trouble with one out in the bottom of the fifth. A Nick Noonan (who was playing only because Pablo Sandoval came down with the flu) single, and a wild pitch put Noonan into scoring position. The wild pitch was costly and seemed to annoy Volquez. He let his emotions get the best of him. Noonan came around to score after Lincecum sacrificed him to third, and Pagan got him home with a run scoring grounder. Volquez then walked Blanco, and gave up a two out base hit to Brandon Belt that brought home the tying run.

Giant fans don’t want Lincecum to leave

Angel Pagan’s eighth inning home run broke the 2-2 tie, and Santiago Casilla, and Sergio Romo shut the Dodger offense down the final two frames giving the Giants the 3-2 win.

I think it’s best we not talk about this game any further. The Dodgers have essentially lost home field advantage and the most important thing is to make sure nobody gets hurt between now and Sunday. The Dodgers fall to 91-68 and now return home to Dodger stadium to play the final three games of the regular season. Tomorrow night Clayton Kershaw will make his final tune-up before the playoffs, and Colorado will counter with random right handed noob Collin McHugh at 7:10 PM.